Carrier-envelope phase controlled isolated attosecond pulses in the nm wavelength range, based on coherent nonlinear Thomson-backscattering

Abstract

A proposal for a novel source of isolated attosecond XUV—soft x-ray pulses with a well controlled carrier-envelope phase difference (CEP) is presented in the framework of nonlinear Thomson-backscattering. Based on the analytic solution of the Newton–Lorentz equations, the motion of a relativistic electron is calculated explicitly, for head-on collision with an intense fs laser pulse. By using the received formulas, the collective spectrum and the corresponding temporal shape of the radiation emitted by a mono-energetic electron bunch can be easily computed. For certain suitable and realistic parameters, single-cycle isolated pulses of ca. 20 as length are predicted in the XUV—soft x-ray spectral range, including the 2.33–4.37 nm water window. According to our analysis, the generated almost linearly polarized beam is extremely well collimated around the initial velocity of the electron bunch, with considerable intensity and with its CEP locked to that of the fs laser pulse.

Keywords

• attosecond pulses
• ultrafast phenomena
• backscattering
• extreme ultraviolet
• soft x-rays